Books and Resource Guides

This book is a recent, extensive review of key issues within the growing literature on disability. The authors investigate the changing concept of disability, the political implications of disability, social policy, and the cultural and media representation of disability.

This edited volume has three sections: Bodies and Images, Disabled Women in Relationships, and Policy and Politics. The essays cover a wide range of disabilities and address the tendency for disabled persons to be invisible in this society. Another common theme is the meaning of gender for both women and men with disabilities. The essays address a range of topics, from friendship to sexuality to workplace issues.

This book provides current research findings on providing psychotherapy to individuals with intellectual disabilities. Specific chapters address individual, couple, and group therapies, specific disability populations, and the treatment of specific trauma issues. Chapters on research, ethics, and training are also included.

The chapters cover assessment and treatment of diverse groups of deaf people, with a hands-on approach to their special needs. The volume includes a CD with pictorial questionnaires and information sheets designed to assist in the diagnosis and treatment of mental health problems in this population.

The author includes discussion of minority deaf populations, hard of hearing persons, training service providers, legal aspects, genetics, research, families with deaf persons, and the small world nature of the deaf community.

This author was the director of the U.S. Department of Education’s office of special education programs from 1993-1999. His view is that attitudes toward disability greatly impact the education that children with disabilities receive. The proposed notion is that fighting ableism should be the main focus of special education in order to ensure that children with disabilities receive a high-quality education.

This new edition of Psychosocial Aspects of Disability addresses critical issues in the psychology of disability including historical perspectives on disability-based attitudes and discrimination, social and occupational inclusion, empowerment, and legislative influences on human rights concerns.

As the title implies, this text is a handbook for therapists, which includes several activities and homework assignments. There is a section that focuses on coping with disability and the effect of disability on interpersonal relationships.

This textbook combines the writings of individuals with various disabilities with information about appropriate counseling strategies for different disability populations. Additional topics include disability-related attitudes and attitude formation, cultural perspectives, family issues, workplace issues, sexuality, theories of adjustment, social support, ethical issues, and disability-related teaching and research.

Olkin, R. (1999). What psychotherapists should know about disability. New York: Guilford.

Among the various issues discussed in this book are the three different perspectives on disabilities: (a) The moral model of disability, where individuals with disabilities are considered to have a "defect." This defect is a metaphor for some sort of moral degradation. (b) The medical model of disability, where the disability represents a loss of function, and non-disabled individuals take a "paternalistic" stance towards those with disabilities. (c) The minority model of disability, where individuals with disabilities encounter discrimination because society fails to accommodate those with disabilities and has negative attitudes towards them.

With a focus primarily on the workplace, chapters in this volume explore such issues as social psychological perspectives on disability prejudice, stigma and the Americans with Disabilities Act, and implicit disability-related attitudes.

Book Chapters

Balter, R. (1999). From stigmatization to patronization: The media’s distorted portrayal of physical disability. In L. L. Schwartz (Ed). Psychology and the media: A second look (pp. 147-171). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

The author describes how people with disabilities have historically been portrayed in the media, with particular attention to media use of stereotypes. The author discusses how the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) has affected the portrayal of disabilities in film and television. The chapter concludes with a review of how particular physical disabilities are depicted, including deafness, blindness, and orthopedic disabilities. At the conclusion of the chapter, the author lists steps the media can take to improve portrayals of physical disability.

This chapter presents a framework for balancing the needs of several stakeholders: (students with disabilities, campus disability support services, instructors, and students without disabilities) in making ethical decisions about providing accommodations. Universal design is discussed as a strategy for dealing with these decisions.

This chapter focuses on strategies for educating nondisabled individuals about disability and challenging preconceptions. Topics include defining disability as a social construction, disability-related prejudice and discrimination and prejudice reduction, and the experience of disability. A wide variety of resources for teaching about disability are described.

This chapter reviews major areas of research from the sibling disability literature including the effects of having a sibling with a disability, parenting and family influences on sibling relationships, and sibling roles/relationships across the life span. Finally, recommendations are made for practitioners treating siblings with and without disabilities.

The authors discuss the stigmas associated with physical disabilities from a social psychological perspective. The authors discuss how both social and environmental constraints affect the lives of people with a physical disability. The perspectives of both disabled and nondisabled individuals are examined as are strategies for improving interactions between these two groups.

This chapter discusses the issue of deafness as a disability versus a culture. It also discusses how individuals undergo a process of including deafness into their identity and its implications for treatment.

This chapter discusses some fundamental issues faced by faculty who teach students with disabilities. Issues addressed include faculty attitudes, preparation, and practical tips for faculty who have little experience teaching students with disabilities.

Includes discussion of , incidence of women with disabilities globally, women with disabilities as "the other," the limited role of legislation in reducing discrimination, the relationship between discrimination and violence against women with disabilities, the impact of disabilities and ableism on women's mental health, and the role of media in the marginalization of women with disabilities.

This chapter explores the causes and lifelong consequences of American Indian and Alaska Native students’ disproportionate referral to and placement in special education programs and services -- more than students from all other U. S. racial and ethnic groups. While acknowledging the difficultly of providing services to such a diverse community, the authors make recommendations for actions that might remedy this situation. These include culturally and linguistically appropriate testing and assessment, culturally responsive teaching and learning practices, and collaboration with those familiar with students' Native languages and cultures.

This study investigated middle and high school students’ perceptions of an instructional environment that employed Universal Design for Learning. Policy implications and methodological considerations are discussed.

American Psychological Association. (2003). A new model of disability [Special issue]. American Psychologist, 58, 279–312.

This special section includes articles about a new paradigm for disability (Pledger, pp. 279–284); opportunities for extramural funding (Melia, Pledger, & Wilson, pp. 285–288); an integrative conceptual framework on disability, with an emphasis on new directions for research (Tate & Pledger, pp. 289–295); ways that disability within psychology is examined, and the current marginalization of the topic (Olkin & Pledger, pp. 296–304); and ways psychologists can affect national policy decisions, especially those affecting training and practice (Gill, Kewman, & Grannon, pp. 305–312).

This article details a case study involving multiple forms of oppression experienced and battled by a group of Latino immigrant families who have children with disabilities.

Chowdhury, M., & Benson, B. A. (2011). Deinstitutionalization and quality of life of individuals with intellectual disability: A review of the international literature. Journal of Policy and Practice in Intellectual Disabilities, 8(4), 256-265. doi:10.1111/j.1741-1130.2011.00325.x

This literature review evaluates the practice of deinstitutionalization, which is increasingly a component of social policy in many countries.

This article focuses on the biopsychosocial challenges that individuals who are disabled face. It includes individual perspectives from two women, one of whom was disabled early in life and the other with an acquired disability. Both cases discuss the importance of integrating an ecological/systems framework emphasizing the interrelationship between biological, psychological, social, technological, cultural and political factors.

The authors used survey data to examine people’s causal attributions about mental illness. Community college students’ beliefs about the persons’ responsibility for causing their condition were related to their affective reactions to those individuals. The authors also examined perceptions of dangerousness, which produced an increased fear of people with mental illness. However, familiarity with mental illness reduced discriminatory responses.

This report reviews the evidence for disability-related human rights violations in low-income and middle-income countries and discusses strategies for promoting social justice.

DuFeu, M. (2009). The challenge of psychiatric treatments in the deaf population. European Psychiatry, 24S185.

This article covers several of the appropriate treatments for deaf populations and the challenges involved. Some of these challenges include the wide geographical spread of this client group, the complexity of treatment, and the challenge of delivering multi-disciplinary treatment programs in conjunction with locally based mainstream resources. There is also discussion of raising awareness of mental health issues to remove the negative stigma.

The authors address assumptions about the nature and meaning of disability in social-psychological writing. They suggest persons with disabilities comprise a minority group and that their problems can best be understood in a minority-group framework. Assumptions about disability are discussed as are the implications of these assumptions for society and social science.

The purpose of this study was to describe the types and levels of regular physical activity undertaken by adults with intellectual disabilities and to investigate the factors predicting low activity. The authors found that 34.6% of adults with intellectual disabilities undertook any regular activity of at least moderate intensity. The results are a step towards informing the development of interventions to promote the health of adults with intellectual disabilities through increased physical activity.

This content analysis of top selling introductory psychology textbooks presents evidence that material on disability continues to be limited and to portray people with disabilities in a stereotypical manner.

Past research showing that persons with disabilities are stigmatized is extended to show that a hierarchical order of social acceptance of disabilities exists. Undergraduate students rated their knowledge of 13 disabilities and their comfort in interacting with persons with those disabilities. Mental retardation and mental illness were rated lowest of the 13 categories. Implications for counseling persons with disabilities are discussed.

This article details a multi-method, national study of domestic violence and disability in the United Kingdom. As indicated by previous research in several countries, this study found an association between disability and domestic violence as well as a lack of appropriate social services. Specific recommendations are provided to address this situation.

This is a paper that presents a historical review of the research (written in English and Spanish) concerning physical disability from a social psychological perspective. The review covers four main areas, the stigmatization of people with a disability, interactions between people with and without disabilities, coping strategies of people with disabilities to counteract the stigma, and social intervention strategies to help reduce the negative stigma attached to disability.

This study describes the construction and evaluation of a measure of faculty attitudes and perceptions toward students with disabilities. Responses loaded on the following eight factors (a) Fairness in Providing Accommodations, (b) Knowledge of Disability Law, (c) Adjustment of Course Assignments and Requirements, (d) Minimizing Barriers, (e) Campus Resources, (f) Willingness to Invest Time, (g) Accessibility of Course Materials, and (h) Performance Expectations. More positive attitudes toward providing accommodations and adopting Universal Design principles were found for faculty who are female, nontenured, housed within the College of Education, or had prior disability-focused training experiences.

Prototypes and characteristics were examined for six disabilities (schizophrenia, mental retardation, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, spinal cord injury, visual impairment, and hearing impairment) and the similarities and differences were discussed. The relationship between stereotypes/prototypes and attitudes were examined for each disability group. The implications are presented from a rehabilitation counseling and educational perspective.

The article covers common reactions to chronic illness and disability such as negative emotionality, poor psychosocial adaptation, and stress as a result of disability. The author believes that the individual’s cognitive appraisal of their disability influences their emotional response, and therefore is a main piece of the rehabilitation process. Discussion addresses the benefits of emotional intelligence training for individuals with disabilities.

This study explores college students’ attitudes about peers with autism spectrum disorder, a population increasingly attending college in recent years. The article details predictors of more positive attitudes and advocates for programs to provide education about autism spectrum disorder to college students.

The purpose of this article is to tackle the complex interaction of physical, psychological, social, and environmental aspects of life for women with physical disabilities, especially in cases of comorbid depression. The results indicated that women with physical disabilities commonly encounter other issues such as socio-economic disadvantage, functional limitations, pain and other chronic health conditions, poor diet, physical inactivity, smoking, violence, low self-esteem, sexuality problems, chronic stress, environmental barriers, and barriers to health, all of which increase the likelihood of depression.

This study investigated the treatment of specific mental and physical disorders in various countries with different income levels. The authors administered community epidemiological surveys in 15 countries and found that respondents of the survey in both high-income and low-and middle-income countries attributed higher disability to mental disorders than to the commonly occurring physical disorders included in the surveys. The authors concluded that despite often higher disability ratings, mental disorders are under-treated as compared with physical disorders in both high-income and low-and middle-income countries.

This article offers practical guidelines for general clinicians who are working with deaf clients. The author includes a review of the literature on sign language interpretation in psychotherapy and also summarizes the literature on understanding deaf culture and experience.

This paper discusses the risks involved in having a non-obvious disability, such as Asperger’s Syndrome. The main focus is the difficulties involved in being on the “margins of normality, where being different and being normal merge.” There is discussion of the implications of labeling and diagnoses, as well as the subjective experiences of those individuals who fall into this category.

Power, M. J., Green, A. M. (2010). Development of the WHOQOL disabilities module. Quality of Life Research: An International Journal of Quality of Life Aspects of Treatment, Care & Rehabilitation, 19, 571-584.

In this study, the authors describe the development of an add-on module for the World Health Organization measures of quality of life, which is used for adults with physical or intellectual disabilities.

The authors of this article describe the development of the Attitudes to Disability scale which is used with adults with physical or intellectual disabilities. The purpose of the study was to design a scale that could be used to assess the personal attitudes of individuals with either physical or intellectual disabilities. The authors found that the Attitudes to Disability scale is a new psychometrically sound scale that can be used to assess attitudes in both physically and intellectually disabled groups. The scale is also available in both personal and general forms and in a number of different languages.

Using autism as the primary example, this conceptual paper considers the role of culture in shaping family, professional, and community understanding of developmental disabilities and their treatments.

Scior, K., & Furnham, A. (2011). Development and validation of the intellectual disability literacy scale for assessment of knowledge, beliefs and attitudes to intellectual disability. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 32(5), 1530-1541. doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2011.01.044

This article describes the construction of a measure of intellectual disability literacy. In contrast to the attitudinal measures that dominate previous research, this measure assesses lay knowledge, explanatory models, and beliefs about suitable interventions.

Describes the psychometric properties of the Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule—version II (WHODAS II), which was administered to older people living in seven low- and middle-income countries.

This article critically examines the practice of requiring a practicum or internship trainee with an obvious disability to disclose the disability to potential clients before the first meeting. Legal, ethical, clinical, professional, and social justice issues and outlined. The authors conclude that disclosure may not be in the best interests of the client , trainee, peers, or the profession and is an obstacle to successful completion of professional education by trainees with obvious disabilities.

This article suggests that an exploration of the psychological impact of disability is not incompatible with a social justice perspective on disability and in fact is a critical component of addressing disability-based oppression.

The article addresses how communication about persons with disabilities can contribute to the stigma associated with those disabilities. The author includes vivid examples of how messages designed toward preventing injury can have the unintended consequence of increasing this stigmatization. The author interviewed persons with disabilities and their perspective is clearly articulated, again with vivid examples.

This article discusses how disability can carry with it associations with the idea of loss, which only helps to perpetuate the view of the disabled as incomplete or vulnerable. It is posited that these notions of 'loss' maintain feelings of inadequacy in the disabled and have implications for those seeking to fight disability stereotypes.

Provides results of a large survey of college students with autism spectrum diagnoses without co-occurring intellectual disability. Behavioral and psychiatric concerns are discussed. The authors advocate for screening for autism-related impairment among university students.

Web Resources

Accessiblity and Disablity Information and Resources in Psychology Training and Practice

Ken Pope has developed an excellent website about disability and accessibility. His annotated list of articles is here: http://kpope.com/accesspsych/index.php. He also provides information about topics such as accessibility issues in psychology training and practice, the civil rights of people with disabilities, assistive technology, accessibility standards for Web sites, disability-related legal issues in higher education and professional licensing, and the American Psychological Association's mentoring program.

Provides connection to disabled community with information and opportunities, including resources such as: applying for disability benefits, applying for scholarships, finding a job, learning about disability laws, finding health care, and more.

The resources section is particularly helpful (lower left of homepage); it provides detailed descriptions of an enormous range of disabilities, how they might manifest in a workplace, and suggestions for effective accommodations for each. This is a very practical resource that provides a grounded, reality-based sense of what individuals with a variety of disabilities are dealing with in day-to-day work and life.

This guide offers advice about critical issues that students with disabilities face, including articles on issues related to educational training and professional development. The guide also includes an overview of the major federal disability laws. A strength of the resource is its attention to practical advice about how to navigate the classroom and the campus.